Is it true that life on a kibbutz is isolated from modern convenience?

As Mark Levinson points out, that joke was originally told about Amish. Kibbutzniks have always made a point of using any technology they could afford to make the most out of their land or industrial resources, and to improve their quality of life. This is particularly true of the more isolated kibbutzim, who need to survive with a small number of members.

When my gang and I arrived at our kibbutz in late 1977, for example, they had a minicomputer—in a special air-conditioned bungalow of its own—to manage the crops irrigation. I remember showing it to one of our British volunteers—a well-educated young woman of a posh background—who was stunned: she had never seen a computer before…